oh that was the thing that amused me In A Field

[kaberett]

So there's new legislation about workplace recycling. The impact on PD is not yet formal (it's a "microfirm" so has until 2027) but Steps Are Being Taken to get crew at least to start getting used to separating out food waste from everything else.

To which end we printed and laminated a bunch of signs emphasising FOOD WASTE ONLY, followed by a list of further instructions including NO GARDEN WASTE.

I have been giggling to myself about how arbitrary and inconsistent that distinction in particular is all week.

Comments

[shanaqui]

We have that distinction about stuff you can recycle at my parents' house, and it completely boggles the mind. Dad inquired, because he is bloody-minded, and their literal guidance was "if you pick fruit outside and want to dispose of it for some reason without ever taking it inside, that's garden waste; if you take it inside, it becomes food waste".

🙄

[kaberett]

... what

HOW do they think they ANY HOPE AT ALL of policing and enforcing that???

[aldabra]

I remember a case in possibly-Washington-DC where someone was prosecuted for putting domestic waste in public bins, and they didn't accept her explanation that she was opening her mail while walking to work.

... Is this a funding stream thing rather than a recycling stream thing? So the council sends it all to the same composter but has to demonstrate to a subsidy-provider that it is only claiming for the food waste collection? (And so nobody handling the actual waste cares.)

[shanaqui]

I don't know how they plan to police/enforce it, but the reason given was that once it's in the house, it might be contaminated with salmonella (for example), and therefore needs more careful handling by those collecting refuse than garden waste.

Or something to that effect. 🤷

[kaberett]

... I am not sure that makes it better...

[vass]

Yeah. If I really think about it I think I can see what they're trying to control for, maybe. But in practice it's still... yeah.

[enismirdal]

Oh, this will be a complete mess...

I once overhead Senior Cleaner at work training a Relief Cleaner in bin emptying in my workplace, so Relief Cleaner could handle holiday cover. "Everyone in the different offices has their own personal interpretation of recycling, and you just have to respect that." Unless the rules are VERY clear, people will get it so wrong that a lot of recycling batches will be severely contaminated and end up incinerated/landfill regardless.

Things I've noticed people struggle with a lot:
- paper towels (I am fairly sure these are not recyclable, but have had workplace bins with labels asking people to put these in paper recycling...)
- food contaminated packaging (e.g. sandwich cardboard packaging, pizza box, unwashed milk bottles, etc.)
- yoghurt pots and ready meal trays - I am not sure the collectors are always consistent about that?

And of course the big one: disposable coffee cups.

I just don't see how you can actually get people to get it right, when I've worked in place where a "yes" and "no" list is literally on the front of the bin and people STILL do it wrong. Any a fair % of some workplaces just don't care anyway.

Will there be fines if a business is producing too much contaminated recycling?

I dread to think what some food waste bins will be like in workplaces that can't justify emptying them daily. Being in a room with someone else's discarded banana skin makes me nauseous.

Which is not to say that I think this is a bad idea. I think it's an excellent idea (albeit a bit greenwashy EcoBoomery). I just have a bad feeling that it's going to be a lot less impactful than the legislators expect and will be a total flop in some places.